Filling and excavation projects often require the transport of fill material to the site. In addition, a prescribed fill material of sand, stabilized sand, gravel and the like is often required by local authorities for service line trench backfilling. This requires that the backfilling operation include the transportation of material to the fill site, labor and equipment to spread the fill material.
The fill material is often required to be a certain uniform depth around the service line. Certain materials are expensive and an uneven fill using more material than necessary will be costly. Also, the labor to spread the fill material can be costly.
The present invention is an apparatus that can be readily attachable to a construction vehicle, such as a tool carrier, and transports and delivers, in a uniform manner, fill material at the site. The apparatus is a specially designed bucket mounted to the front of a construction vehicle.
The bucket can be sized to fit the purpose typically from 1/2 to 2 yard bucket size used with most utility tool carriers to a 15 yard size or larger. The bucket has an auger placed lengthwise towards the bottom which is rotatably mounted. The size of the auger depends on the bucket size and materials to be handled. The auger is actuated to rotate by a motor at the operator's direction.
The auger extends through an opening on one side of the bucket and is surrounded by a dispensing pipe which pipe has a closure on the terminal end. Near the end of the dispensing pipe is a chute which communicates to the end of the auger inside the dispensing pipe.
In operation, the bucket is loaded and transports material to a trench or an excavation site to be filled. The vehicle operator aligns the bucket with the dispensing pipe and the chute opening extending over the excavation area.
The operator actuates the auger which causes the fill material to travel along with the rotation of the blades from inside the bucket through the dispensing pipe and out the chute. In filling a trench the vehicle can travel along side and dispense the fill material in a uniform manner. This operation not only reduces cycle time for unloading and spreading material, but also reduces waste of special fill materials which must be laid in a prescribed depth around a service line or otherwise.
The auger section and dispensing pipe can be detachable from the side of the bucket by a threaded connection or other convenient method of attachment. The bucket and detached pipe can be more easily transported to other job sites.